124. Challenges and contradictions of the digital transition in fashion
emanuela mora, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; silvia mazzucotelli, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; laura puricelli, self-employed;
Fashion and technology have always been deeply intertwined as for production, distribution, communication, and consumption. Digital technologies have challenged fashion raising new questions, approaches, and paths of investigation. Nevertheless, the current media universe is facing acceleration and uncontrollable changes - also as a consequence of the pandemic - where metaverse, artificial intelligence, and big data are redefining structurally even the fashion world.
In the recent studies on materiality deconstruction, this proposal reflects on how the interplay between fashion and technology is: a) reorienting consumption, production, and the creative processes in fashion; b) changing the empirical frameworks shaping the imaginaries of consumption, production, and everyday life; c) providing new perspectives on the ecological transition affecting the fashion system in the last 15 years.
The panel welcomes contributions discussing how digital technologies are transforming the fashion world, its supply chain, consumer expectations and practices, aesthetic experiences, and working patterns; it welcomes contributions tackling, among others, the following subjects:
- Fashion and its current challenges about:
o the metaverse: identities and self-expression, NFT, transparency and traceability, reputation and the value of uniqueness.
o video games: bodies' deconstruction, supply chains' transformation, digital wearables as creative tools and engagement media
o the media universe: dematerialization and new forms of aesthetics, exclusivity vs. inclusivity
- Fashion and its inherent contradictions
o environmental impact
o exploitation/subordination of people working in fashion companies
o exclusivity of cultural imaginaries, not aimed at diversity, despite fashion's vocation to creativity and uniqueness
